Dustin Poirier combines BJJ artistry with brawling background

However, the product of Tim Credeur‘s camp in Louisiana, has a spot in the back of his mind that he can go back to whenever he feels threatened inside the Octagon and that is a brawling past that helped lead him to the WEC and the UFC.

After suffering a decision loss to Danny Castillo in his WEC debut in 2010, Poirier (10-1) knew his back was against the wall when he stepped inside the cage to face Zach Micklewright a few months later. Just 53 seconds later, however, Poirier had the win, delivering a knockout to Micklewright and sending himself up the ladder at featherweight.

“I went back to my roots and what won me all my amateur fights and all the fights in the beginning of my pro career,” said Poirier, in a recent interview with UFC’s website. “And that was just tucking my chin and brawling and just going in there and fighting.”

Poirier followed up the KO victory over Micklewright by defeating Josh Grispi and Jason Young in the UFC. Now, he gets Garza in a bout that could determine the future contender to UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

“(Garza) seems like a puzzle. I’ve only seen him fight briefly because the fights he had were real quick, but he’s real awkward, he’s unpredictable,” Poirier said. “He’s just an awkward fighter and he fights with a weird timing, so we’ll see.”